- Oil prices fluctuate as demand slowdown in China weighs on market
- After a 3.5 % drop during yesterday's volatile trading session, oil prices rallied this morning before falling back to $99.18
- China's central bank pledged to bolster support for the economy as authorities in Beijing expanded COVID testing to the majority of Shanghai
- Retail gasoline prices rose 1.1% to $3.959/gal from $3.915/gal, and Diesel fuel prices rose 1.2% to $5.160/gal from $5.101/gal
- Rosneft, Russia's largest state oil company, failed to win a contract to sell up to 37 million barrels of Urals crude
- India is still the most active buyer of Russian Urals, with little interest from the rest of Asia and Europe
- European buyers have continued to shun Russian cargoes due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to traders (BBG)
- Asian refiners are also avoiding the Sokol grade from Russia's Far East following sanctions imposed on a tanker company
- The EU is considering imposing price caps and tariffs on Russian oil to put pressure on Moscow's budget
- Russia supplies nearly a quarter of the EU's oil imports
- Germany warned that a complete ban on Russian oil imports would be disastrous for the economy